r2i forum

I understand the general consensus here is to secure a job in India before the big move. But I don't like to work for anyone anymore (weird, right?). I have a business idea which I desparately want to pursue. It is an online web application with a monthly revenue model. There are a couple of similar products in the market so I'll be competing with them. I'm planning to give myself 1 year to materialize this idea. I tried working on it while simultaneously working my job but I'm finding it very difficult. If I manage to sell at least one subscription, I'll consider myself a winner. If I don't, I'll look for a job. Wife is on the fence about this idea. Win or lose, I want to give this business idea a shot, that's all.

Things have become harder and harder for me at my current workplace. Basically, my manager is a racist and there is no use reporting to the Director or HR. I'll need to quit the company if I continue to stay in US. Changing jobs here is a big hassle and green card is still far, far away (PD June 2011, EB2). I get a headache just thinking about the process to switch employers (h1 change, apply labor & I-140 again, and then wait every month for that wretched visa bulletin). My wife is willing to R2I for me due to my difficult time at work and the H1B hassles.

Here's my current profile -

- in the US for 6.5 years (came in 2006), no green card, me and wife on h1b
- 30 yrs, married, one US-born kid (2 years), no plans of another kid in the future
- working (I'm full-time software developer at an american company; wife is a contractor software developer with a desi company)
- INR 1 Crore in fixed deposits (planning to live off of the interest for a while)
- all paid for 3 BHK apartment
- true blue Hyderabadi, will be relocating to Hyderabad.

How many of you think I'm nuts for doing this?

ozzy;476884I understand the general consensus here is to secure a job in India before the big move. But I don't like to work for anyone anymore (weird, right?). I have a business idea which I desparately want to pursue. It is an online web application with a monthly revenue model. There are a couple of similar products in the market so I'll be competing with them. I'm planning to give myself 1 year to materialize this idea. I tried working on it while simultaneously working my job but I'm finding it very difficult. If I manage to sell at least one subscription, I'll consider myself a winner. If I don't, I'll look for a job. Wife is on the fence about this idea. Win or lose, I want to give this business idea a shot, that's all.

Things have become harder and harder for me at my current workplace. Basically, my manager is a racist and there is no use reporting to the Director or HR. I'll need to quit the company if I continue to stay in US. Changing jobs here is a big hassle and green card is still far, far away (PD June 2011, EB2). I get a headache just thinking about the process to switch employers (h1 change, apply labor & I-140 again, and then wait every month for that wretched visa bulletin). My wife is willing to R2I for me due to my difficult time at work and the H1B hassles.

Here's my current profile -

- in the US for 6.5 years (came in 2006), no green card, me and wife on h1b
- 30 yrs, married, one US-born kid (2 years), no plans of another kid in the future
- working (I'm full-time software developer at an american company; wife is a contractor software developer with a desi company)
- INR 1 Crore in fixed deposits (planning to live off of the interest for a while)
- all paid for 3 BHK apartment
- true blue Hyderabadi, will be relocating to Hyderabad.

How many of you think I'm nuts for doing this?

Positives -

1. Young at 30!
2. FD's will fetch you 7 lacs or so annual at current rates post tax
3. I assume wife can work full time bring in decent income - this is the big one..if she can get 15+ lacs plus salary you will be fine
4. No housing expense which is single biggest line item for most - assumes you stay at your apartment

Negatives -
1. Give up GC...not sure how imp it is to you.
2. Ur idea already has competition.....hence will it succeed ?

I guess you can give it a shot for a year (assumes you dont care for GC) and then if you feel comfortable that you can get back into work force if this idea dosent work then you could go for it!

oasis138;476891
I assume wife can work full time bring in decent income - this is the big one..if she can get 15+ lacs plus salary you will be fine
...
Give up GC...not sure how imp it is to you.

Thanks for your response. My wife is scared of the job market in India. There is a ton of competition and the work hours are really bad. She might eventually find something down the line but not sure. For now, I'm considering she will be a housewife. As for the GC, my PD is still a long way to go. I'm wondering if I can take a break for 1-2 years, test the waters in India, and if it works out stay back. Worst case scenario if my plan doesn't work, i'll then try to find a company that does H1, start GC again! Can I retain the old PD in this situation?

ozzy;476940Can I retain the old PD in this situation?

For the most part, yes.

It's great that you are thinking of a different path (entrepreneur) to make your R2I a success. If your idea is anything in technology area, one year may not be enough. It typically takes more time/effort to build a software product in India compared to US. Once you have v1.0 of product ready, you need to market your product, sales etc. All this takes much more than a year before you can assess whether start up venture is working or not.

Thanks for all the encouraging words. I feel that I'm at a stage where I can make a mistake and recover from it. My son is 2 years old now. I'm thinking of doing my experiment before he is 4-5 (school-going age). I understand my venture may not succeed. But I'll be content with the feeling that I've at least tried. I'm confident that I can secure a decent paying job down the line *if* I fail.

I was in India for 3 months last year (after a gap of 4 years) and one thing that struck me most is that people are spending like crazy. I went to Lifestyle mall in Begumpet and the prices were on par with US. I was standing in line at checkout and I can see the amount the people are paying. None of the transactions were less than Rs. 5,000. People are spending more and they are Internet savvy. Everyone wants to sit at home and get the work done. I think this is the right time to start a business venture.

Lets see what happens. :)

ozzy;476996
I was in India for 3 months last year (after a gap of 4 years) and one thing that struck me most is that people are spending like crazy.

We keep hearing this again and again my take is that we returning NRI end up in upper scale market place which is generally flocked by upper middle class and we get the conception that money is flowing like anything in India that people don,t care to spend. Had we spent few minutes watching vegetable/ small vendors and the people who shop there, the reality would be far far different. Evety paise counts.

If you don't have GC, how you plan to recover from your "mistake"?

My Roots;477072We keep hearing this again and again my take is that we returning NRI end up in upper scale market place which is generally flocked by upper middle class and we get the conception that money is flowing like anything in India that people don,t care to spend. Had we spent few minutes watching vegetable/ small vendors and the people who shop there, the reality would be far far different. Evety paise counts.

Well said!
However people with businesses are well loaded though and unlike in the past, you can see conspicuous consumption.